


All I Want (Is To Keep You Safe)

by SamJoinedtheReconCorps



Series: Water and Fire (and Steam) [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, Molly knows, Post Episode 22, Roll for Initiative, Very mild hurt/comfort, Wildemount Campaign, cr2 - Freeform, fjord ain't all that subtle, i'm in love with them you guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-12-07 10:10:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20974175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamJoinedtheReconCorps/pseuds/SamJoinedtheReconCorps
Summary: Fjord finds himself falling faster and can't help but want to protect Caleb. He's not the best at it, but he sure wants to be the best.orwhat could have been going through Fjord's head when Caleb collapsed during the fight with the merrow.





	All I Want (Is To Keep You Safe)

**Author's Note:**

> yoooo sooooooo
> 
> okay so like, I didn't start this off as a series. Like I wrote the Soft Words and I was like alright, alright, I love them this is bomb, then I wrote Through the Pain which like, it was also a one shot but it lowkey fell into the same verse as Soft Words, and now this one 100% is in the same verse as the other two
> 
> so long story short, this is another one shot that just happens to follow the other two - you don't have to read the others to understand it, but if you wanna, well they're there! I really hope you all enjoy it!

Fjord watched as Beau pulled Caleb aside after she gave Calianna the bowl, pulling him back, away from the group and away from Calianna and the bowl she’d been looking for. He watched the anger in her movements, the way she radiated disapproval.

He half turned, just to be able to hear what would be said.

“Look, we all have our fucking trauma,” she started, the anger in her movements clear in her voice as well. “You understand that? We all have our fucking garbage and our dirt and our shit, but you don’t get to use your -” she threw her hands up “- skeletons in your closet, your PTSD -”

Caleb, who’s eyes had dropped to the ground as soon as Beau had dragged him away, remained unmoving, staring blankly at the floor.

(Fjord didn’t remain unmoving though. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, he’d flinched, using every bit of his willpower not to step between them and bodily shield Caleb from the unjust things Beau was saying to him.)

(Out of the corner of his eye, he can see the way Molly looks at him, the worried look he gives him. And of course Molly would be looking at Fjord when this is going down, of course he’d be worried that he’s going to jump in the middle of everything. He knew about Fjord and Caleb at the Pillow Trove, after all.)

“-to be shitty and control other people and what they want.” She pointed at the group, pointed back at Caleb. “It does not make you the authority on what’s right and what’s wrong. Just because you think that you’re a shitty person -” She shook her head. “Guess what, we’re all shitty people!”

“Not all of us are shitty people,” Jester chimed in, and that’s when Caleb’s shoulders tensed, when his expression drops for a second before the unreadable mask is back in place.

“I get feeling like a shitty people,” Beau continued, completely ignoring the fact that she was speaking loud enough that everyone could hear, loud enough about something Caleb had trusted her with that now everyone knew partly what was going on. “I don’t speak for the rest of these guys but I get feeling shitty. But it doesn’t mean that you get to impress that on other people and make them feel like shitheads just because you are.”

“Beauregard,” Caleb says quietly, quiet enough where the other can’t hear.

(Quiet enough that Fjord can barely hear as he strains to catch his voice.)

“What if she had been lying to us?” He doesn’t meet Beau’s eyes.

“Then she fucking lied to us,” she says matter-of-factly. “And we take that and we learn that as a lesson for later on.”

“Miss Beauregard, if I can?” Calianna steps closer, equal parts brave and timid in her voice.

“Yes, Cali,” Beau answers, turning her back on Caleb.

“I think out of everyone here, from what I’ve seen, Mr Caleb’s the only one who really understands how powerful this thing is,” she tells Beau, tells the group at large.

(And Fjord can see the way Caleb’s shoulders relax a hairsbreadth, can feel that tiny bit of relief in his heart when he sees the motion.)

Cali frowns. “I - even I didn’t know as much. I appreciate everything that you’ve just said and it’s the nicest thing that anyone’s ever done for me.” She squares her shoulders. “Please don’t blame him. He was doing - he was doing the right thing.”

“I’m not blaming him,” Beau shrugs. “It’s just that this isn’t the first occurence of something like this with him either.”

(And the tension is back, no give, no release, no relief in Caleb’s posture, and it makes Fjord ache for him and itch to jump in between all of this and get them to stop.)

Calianna, to her credit, defends Caleb. “I think he’s trying to do the right thing.”

“I think he is too,” Beau agrees, talking about him almost as if he weren’t there anymore.

“You were right, Caleb, you’re just a shitty communicator,” Molly calls out.

Beau nods. “It’s kind of what - what Molly said.”

“Yep,” Molly hums.

( _ The tension in his shoulders snaps _ .)

“I told you exactly what I wanted to do, and why,” Caleb gets out.

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions, my friend,” Beau answers, clapping him on the shoulder.

Caleb takes a step away from her, out of her reach. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, and then he turns around and walks away.

(But not fast enough, not fast enough that Fjord wouldn’t be able to see the tears in his eyes. Not fast enough to hide how upset he truly was.)

( _ Not good enough, never good enough _ .)

* * *

They were outside The Gentleman’s safehouse on the first watch of the night when Beau spoke up from beside him.

“Hey, Fjord.”

“Yeah,” he answers, a little less open for conversation than usual, a little more cutting in just that small word.

(He wasn’t happy with her, not after all the shit that’d gone down in the cave.)

“Need to ask you something,” she says, her eyes narrowed in concentration.

“Shoot,” Fjord nods.

“I think I messed up,” she admits.

Fjord glances at her out of the corner of his eye.

“Think you know, um, maybe I should apologize - to Caleb.” She looks over at him. “I’m not very good at apologizing, though. So, I was just wondering if maybe you could give me some pointers for apologizing.”

“You’re not good at apologizing?” and Fjord’s teasing now, the anger and frustration melting away when he hears the sincerity in Beau’s tone. She’s his friend, after all, and this was a huge step she was making.

Beau gives him an annoyed look. “You’re being facetious, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I’m fucking with you, yeah” Fjord clarifies. He clears his throat. “Um, yeah, you reckon you need to apologize?”

“I, y’know, I probably, ah, got a little too aggressive, probably shouldn’t have grabbed him like that.” She wrinkles her nose. “Got a little too angry.” She pauses for a second as her gaze drops to the ground. “That’s not necessarily my good side, y’know, don’t like people seeing that.”

Fjord stays quiet for a few seconds, mulls over what Beau just finished saying. He sighs, drawing her attention to him. “You know, a great place to start with apologies is to mention the stuff you just said.”

“That I’m not good at apologies?” Beau asks.

“No, yeah, after that, right. The -” Fjord tells her, trying to steer her towards the right words.

“That I got a little too aggressive?” Beau tries.

“One,” Fjord says, counting off on his fingers.

“And, uh, I-I have a bad side?” she continues.

“ _ Dos _ ,” he says, showing off a bit of the Marquesian he learned while sailing.

Beau puts together the perfect finish for her apology. “And I shouldn’t have done it.”

“Yeah, that’s a really good apology,” Fjord nods, genuine and a touch proud that she’d put it all together herself once she’d got all the pieces out.

“Is that pretty good?” she double checks.

He nods again. “Yeah.”

“Okay,” Beau says, psyching herself up for the apology she’ll make when next she talks to Caleb. “Okay.”

“However,” Fjord continues, because even though she has put all the pieces together, she had asked him for pointers. “Right? Be genuine, right? Don’t be embarrassed to apologize. It takes a big person to apologize for something. Little people are the ones that make mistakes and just, y’know, let ‘em go, don’t like to bring them up.”

“Oh, like - like Nott?” And she gestures with her hand about how tall Nott is. “Like a little person?”

“No,” Fjord shakes his head, exasperation coloring his voice. “No, like small on the inside.”

“Riiight, like in your soul,” Beau agrees, as if she’d known exactly what he’d been talking about all along. “Right.”

“That’s big of you,” Fjord finishes.

“Well, it’s, y’know, I want to try, I guess,” she shrugs. She shrugs often, an uncaring air to the gesture, but he can see the underlying nervousness, the genuine care that lies beneath that uncaring mask.

“Yeah, I think he deserves that,” Fjord says, and he’s so glad that Beau brought this up first, that she decided on her own to apologize to Caleb.

(He’s not sure whether he would have eventually scolded her or if he would’ve just been cold and quiet with her until this all got resolved.)

Fjord looks at Beau, but in a way he’s almost looking past her. “He’s been good to us.”

Beau nods again, a few stray hairs from her topknot bun coming loose. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Yeah,” Fjord sighs, the last of the tension that had hung around since she pulled Caleb aside earlier finally dissipating. “Alright.”

“Hopefully it goes well,” she says, and he knows it’s partly to him, and partly to herself.

“I think it will,” Fjord assures her, because Caleb is good, he’s forgiving and kind -

(- he forgave a damn  _ blade _ to his throat, an almost deadly overreaction -)

(But now’s not the time to think about something like that, to think about something that’s been forgiven.)

“You can actually leave the smile out of it this time, though,” he says instead. “Just - just to be clear.”

“Oh okay,” Beau says.

“Yeah, just don’t even -”

“Not like -” She mimics one of her extremely forced smiles, “I’m sorry.”

He shakes his head. “Yeah, no - no, that’s going to set the tone -”

“Yeah, that’s bad.”

“- in a real weird way. There’s a thing called sarcasm that you kind of ride a line with, sometimes,” Fjord pointed out.

“Okay, okay, that’s good to know,” and it seems like she’s actually genuinely taking the things he’s saying to heart. “That’s good to know.”

And the first watch comes to an end, and Fjord is proud of his friend, and can’t wait for Caleb to hear the apology Beau has ready for him.

(He can’t wait for that tension to disappear from his shoulders, for the sense of betrayal and hurt that he had seen in his eyes as Caleb had walked away to disappear.)

(The world owes Caleb so many apologies, and this is just one less to help lighten the weight that he carries inside of him.)

* * *

  1. _Talk to people if they talk to you_
  2. _Be nice_
  3. _Eat with your mouth closed_
  4. _Wash your hands_
  5. _Wash your hair (when you can)_

Caleb pauses in his writing, pauses in his little impromptu lesson on how to better get along with the group.

( _ On how to potentially better get along with Fjord. _ )

“But it just rained though,” Caleb says. “So this is the cleanest I’ve been in weeks.”

“Well, I know - I feel like - I feel like you’re still -” Her sentences are fits and starts, as if she keeps changing her mind halfway through a thought. “How do you stay dirty all the time?”

There’s a moment of silence as Caleb picks out his words. “Well,” and he decides to tell her the truth. “Most of the time I’m trying to. People don’t pay attention to beggars to much.”

“Okay,” Yasha says quietly, with a solemn nod. “So you don’t want people to pay attention to you.”

It wasn’t a question, but Caleb answers it anyway. “Yeah, in general.”

“I get that, I feel that way, but I-I,” fits and starts, fits and starts. “I - I’m, I’m hard to miss. I don’t mean that like in a,” and she tosses her hair over her shoulder in what he assumes is supposed to be a pretty-girl gesture, “ _ woo _ , I’m hard to miss.”

“You’re as big as a - as a giant barn, you are hard to miss,” Caleb tells her, and he’s almost wistful, wishes he could be hard to miss in that way.

( _ Intimidating, strong, powerful - someone not to be meddled with, someone that you wouldn’t look twice at for fear of pain and punishment. _ )

( _ Maybe then they wouldn’t have thought to hurt him. Maybe then he would have been stronger to fight against the monster they turned him into. _ )

“Yeah,” Yasha nodded. “Yeah. Well, I -”

“Do you know what I miss?” Caleb suddenly gets out.

“What?” Yasha asks.

“Shaving,” Caleb answers, his hand slowly coming up and touching the short beard he’s been sporting.

She looks him up and down, an appraising look. “I could shave you, right now, with my sword.” Caleb’s eyes widen as Yasha continues. “I’ve done it before, I, you know, like to not have hair on my arms, so I -” and she takes her finger and runs it up her arm, “you know I do it - this is what I do.” She drops her hands. “I really - I really think cleanliness is - and hygiene is very important.”

“Well, one thing that I have realized today is that I need to work on my interpersonal skills and friendship making, so,” and he steadies himself, finds enough courage in himself to say, “just try not to cut up my face, okay?”

“Okay do you just want like a trim, is there a certain look you want?” Yasha asks, sitting up straighter.

“No, I mean, leave my hair on my head but I have been - I have not had a clean shaven face in a long time.” He honestly can’t remember when he’d last been clean shaven.

“Do you want it all gone or you just want -?” and she motions with her hand something that could mean a more close cut beard.

He shakes his head. “No, you can take it all.” He pauses, reconsidering for a second. “You know, I -”

“It’s easier to do that,” Yasha says as she looks at his beard, her strategizing about how best to start cutting it clear on her face.

“You can crush a person, but I’m not quite sure how dextrous you are, so I don’t want any fancy tricks, just, just -” Caleb is explaining, second guessing this decision but not willing to back out of it.

“I, you know, I’m going to hold it,” and she takes out her sword, holds it by the blade with two hands, “like this. And then, the blade, you know, it goes like - this is how I do it. I hold it, and then I just, you know.” She lets go with one hand and runs the blade up her arm with the other, “Like,  _ whoosh _ , you know.”

“Okay, okay,” Caleb gets out.

Yasha nods, seemingly satisfied that her explanation had been enough for Caleb. “Okay,” she echoes. “So, sit, uh, here - uh, just -”

“Should I lie on the ground?” Caleb supplies.

“Oh, yeah, lie down, lie down,” Yasha agrees. “I’ve never done it like that but yeah, lie down.”

“Have you done this before?” Caleb asks, his eyes wide again.

“I have done this before,” she assures him.

“With that?” Caleb presses, meaning the giant greatsword in her hands.

“Not with this,” Yasha admits, “something a little smaller.”

Before he can completely lose his nerve, Caleb lies on the floor.

He’s not a brave man, not as brave as anyone else in this wonderfully colorful group he’s gotten Nott and himself roped in with, but they make him braver.

( _ Fjord makes him braver, and there he is, snoring softly to the side, quiet and calm and strong and Caleb misses sleeping in his arms the way he did at the Pillow Trove - _ )

( _ He cuts himself off. _ )

They make him braver, and while this isn’t anything daring or adventurous, this definitely feels like a baby step in the right direction.

“Okay,” Yasha breathes, holding the blade steady in her hand as she kneels beside him.

Just as the blade is hovering over his face, Caleb stammers out, “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.” She pauses, looks him in the eye for him to continue. He swallows, then gives her a smile that is more confident, less shy, “This means we are friends.”

“Yes,” Yasha smiles in turn.

Caleb nods then holds his breath.

“Well, you don’t have to hold your breath ‘cause it will take a very long time and you’ll pass out,” she tells him.

“That might be better,” he tells her in a rush, still holding his breath.

“Just, you need to,” she let’s out a breath, “ _ fwooo _ , relax. Breathe in, breathe out.” She picks a place on his beard and moves her greatsword to hover over the spot. “Okay, I got it, here we go.”

And so he lay there as the sun slowly crept over the horizon, their watch continuing quietly with nothing setting off his  _ Alarm _ again, with his barbarian friend that is so shrouded in mystery delicately trimming his beard.

( _ It was a blade to his neck, careful and controlled, and while this situation is miles removed from the Richter’s place, he finds himself thinking of Fjord, of how careful and controlled he was despite how he believed he lost control _ .)

( _ Yes, this might not be a life threatening situation, but this was Caleb being brave, one little thing at a time, and hopefully if he grew to be brave enough he’d never disappoint Fjord or Nott or Beau or any of his friends again. _ )

* * *

“Are you killing Caleb!” Jester gasps, and at this point Fjord has learned how to tune her out as he sleeps but her words make him bolt upright quickly, just barely catching as Yasha pulls back from Caleb with her greatsword in hand. Caleb’s on the ground, seemingly barely even breathing.

(There’s an itch in his hand, and it tingles as his breath hitches as he watches Caleb’s chest rise and fall, slowly going back to it's normal rhythm.)

“No, I was uh, giving him, um,” and she motions running a razor across her chin, “a shave.”

“Oh,” Jester answers, sitting back down as Caleb slowly sits up.

He gives her a tentative smile.

(Fjord’s breath catches in his throat.)

“Woah,” Jester says, almost in unison with Nott, both in disbelief - and woah is an understatement.

“Wow,” Beau nods, her expression clearly saying  _ not bad _ .

“It’s much b-better,” Nott tells him, stuttering a little as she takes Caleb in.

“You have a - you have a little,” Jester points at her chin, “thing. You have a little dimple on your chin. That’s the cutest.” She lets her hand drop, her eyes still on him. “I didn’t know.”

Beau nods again, humming her agreement with Jester.

“So,” and it takes Fjord a second as he looks for the right word to no avail, “boyish.”

“Yeah, you almost look innocent,” Beau adds.

(And that’s the word.  _ Innocent _ . Caleb looks younger, more innocent, some of the exhaustion he carries fading slightly.)

(It makes Fjord wonder if this is what Caleb might have always looked like, if the Empire hadn’t gotten their hands on him. It makes him wonder if Caleb looked more like this, when the Empire drenched his past in fire and blood.)

(The protective flame in Fjord burned brighter.)

“He looks good,” Nott grins, eyes bright, encouraging and supportive.

( _ Caleb wants to shrivel up and die under all the attention if he’s being completely honest with himself. _ )

Running a hand over his face, feeling the small stubble in place of his usual beard, Caleb ducks his head, trying to hide how he was blushing from so many eyes on him. He turns away, catching Fjord’s eyes for a second.

His cheeks were tinted a darker green, and his yellow eyes were wide, expression earnest and soft. “Nice work, Yasha,” he says, eyes never leaving Caleb.

(He’s the loveliest shade of green _ , Caleb noticed. _ )

( _ Maybe getting everyone’s attention wasn’t so bad after all _ .)

* * *

Fjord swam through the underwater tunnel, easier this time around now that he knew it wasn’t too far of a swim. He slowly raised himself out of the water, just his eyes, catching sight of the five merrow he’d seen the night before - one on a raised area, and two pairs off to the side, talking in their strange language. They seemed distracted enough for what Fjord needed to do next.

Hefting himself out of the pool of water as quietly as possible, Fjord moved towards a slick stalactite. He reached the stalactite, slipping slightly and hitting his elbow against it, sending a spray of pebbles to the ground. He holds perfectly still, eyes on the nearest pair of merrow.

They continue talking, not having noticed him at all.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Fjord quickly ties off the rope, giving it a gentle tug to test it's sturdiness and, satisfied, slowly pulls himself backwards into the water, slipping in silently and swimming back to the other side to join the others.

It didn’t take long to explain what he’d seen, and they all agree it’d be best if the group went through the tunnel and fought the merrow in the cavern - well, everyone except for Nott and Kiri.

“Are you sure you’re not coming?” Molly asked Nott as Caleb handed his books to her.

“I’m - I - m-my duty is to take care of Kiri,” Nott answers, turning to Kiri. “Right?”

Kiri leans in, nodding as she says to Nott. “ _ This means we are friends. _ ”

( _ Crap _ .)

“Sounds like Caleb,” Nott pointed out, looking at Kiri appraisingly, almost in awe at how well she could imitate her best friend. “Wow.”

( _ That  _ did _ sound a lot like Caleb _ , Fjord thinks, glancing at him.)

Caleb is looking at Yasha, who gives him a shrug with a small smile. He almost looks nervous, but from the sound of what Kiri said, Caleb and Yasha’s watch was filled with more than just Yasha shaving Caleb’s beard. It was honestly heartwarming to see Caleb making friends, and knowing that he was  _ talking _ about being friends was a huge step for him.

(It seems like Caleb would always pull something to surprise him.)

There’s still a light blush on Caleb’s face as they all slip into the pool and swim through the tunnel, holding onto the rope Fjord tied off to guide them. A few seconds later and they all pop out, trying to be as stealthy as possible.

They take a breath, gathering their bearings, then, almost as if they had rehearsed it, they move as one.

Beau is the first to charge in, running towards the pair on the right, getting up to the one closest to her and taking a few swings at it, giving Jester the opportunity to cast Toll the Dead, the sound of haunting bells filling the cavern for a second as Jester summons her spiritual weapon lollipop between the merrow they both attacked and the one that merrow had been talking to.

Scrambling out of the water as quickly as he can, Caleb dives off to the side, staying out of the merrow’s reach but within clear visual of them, but not before he turns to Molly, saying something under his breath as he gestures with his hand, a bit of licorice peeking out between his fingers.

Fjord catches how Molly blurs a little around the edges, almost as if he were vibrating at a high frequency, but he doesn’t stop to figure out exactly what spell Caleb cast on him as Fjord rushes out of the pool only to dive into the water, swimming up to the pair of merrow on the left.

_ Thank the gods for his Mariner’s Armor _ , Fjord thought as he stopped in front of the nearest merrow, keeping afloat by the enchantment of his armor, allowing him to focus on attacking the merrow in front of him. He focuses on the falchion as he swings his empty fist, watching it materialize midswing and connect to the merrow, a muffled  _ boom _ sounding as the blade slashed the creature.

Out of the corner of his eye he can see the other merrow near Beau, Jester, and Caleb hiss at them menacingly. He concentrates on it, watching as dark shadows coalesce around it,  _ Hex _ ing it to interfere with it's wisdom. He could afford to concentrate on the spell since he didn’t have to concentrate on keeping himself afloat and fighting the merrow at the same time.

(Thank the gods for Caleb.)

Yasha roars out in rage, and Fjord hears more than he sees Yasha’s divine fury as she wails down on the merrow that Beau is fighting, attacking with her greatsword.

The merrow, despite being caught off guard during the first few seconds of the onslaught, retaliate quickly. Fjord watches the one shrouded in shadows throw it's harpoon at Beau, tearing into her shoulder before the merrow yanks back the rope and drags Beau into the water.

Beau curses loudly, splashing around as she kicks to keep herself above water.

Fjord doesn’t even have a chance to worry about Beau as the merrow that’s right in front of him rakes it's claws over his chest, catching him in the neck before biting down on his shoulder, it's sharp teeth piercing part of his armor. It pulls back, leaving deep gouges as he bellows in pain. Fjord pushes away, meaning to swim off, when he feels a sharp pain in his hip as the other merrow that is near him throws it's harpoon at him, slicing through skin and grinding against bone.

He does the first thing he can think of - he grabs a hold of the harpoon, holding it tight to him as the merrow who threw it moves to yank him towards it. Fjord pulls back, his side screaming and the harpoon slippery in his hand, but he manages to hold firm, forcing the merrow to swim up to Fjord to join it's companion.

Yasha shouts angrily as a merrow’s voice fills the chamber with strange chants, a low cloud appearing and covering the entire interior of the chamber in response. The dark cloud looms ominously, sparks of lightning jumping within the cloud for a second before a bolt of lightning strikes, illuminating the cavern.

Beau groans out a low, “Ooooouuuch,” the only indicator to Fjord that the lightning strike found its mark.

The sounds of weapons hitting flesh and the screeches and shouts from the other side of the room waged on as Fjord grit his teeth and began to pull the harpoon out of his side.

He hears Yasha yell out, “Yeah, Jester!” over the sound of bones breaking.

“Yaasss!” Jester screams out in delight.

There’s three bright flashes of light in quick succession and a pained shriek from the elevated area, and Fjord immediately knows Caleb attacked the lone merrow that stood there.

With another deep breath, Fjord finally pulls out the harpoon from his skin, just as a flurry of blades slices up the merrow Fjord had first attacked, Mollymauk moving with such a speed that his hands were too quick to follow.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” Caleb cursed breathlessly, somewhere off towards where the girls were. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Fjord swims back enough to have room, pulls up his falchion as his hand presses against the wound at his hip, and focuses on the eldritch energy he can feel thrumming through the blade. He feels the energy start to seep into his arms, racing to fill him up completely.

“Do not see me,” Fjord commands, and  _ Blink _ s out of the material plane.

Everything around him fades into shades of grey and Fjord feels as if he’s floating in the Ethereal plane. The water passes through him without touching him, and he starts to move, heading for the stone floor to get above the merrow.

There’s more shouting and then another flash of lightning. Jester shouts something at Beau, and a second later the storm disappears. Caleb lets out nervous laughter and Fjord knows that he’s the one that dispelled it.

(Thank the gods for Caleb Widogast.)

The merrow that had been surrounding Fjord are now turning to Molly, and the one that Fjord had hit before writhes as an aftershock of the blow wracks through it, but that doesn’t stop it from stabbing Mollymauk with it's harpoon. Molly barely gets a chance to yank the spear out before the other merrow stabs him with it's own harpoon.

“Fjord!” he bellows out, sparing a glance around him before turning his swords on the first merrow that had hit him, cutting into it's chest and it's arms, a whirlwind of blades before slicing down the front of the merrow’s face, killing it.

At this point Fjord’s gotten to where he wants to be and focuses on the material plane, appearing on solid ground, sliding for a second as he catches his footing on the slick rocks. He was directly across from Molly, flanking the merrow that was between them. He gave Molly a quick wink over the merrow’s shoulder, pulling back his falchion and, as he swung, dropping the  _ Hex _ he had on the merrow on the other side of the room. He concentrated on his swing, feeling the shadows appear along his blade, a  _ Hexblade’s Curse _ to make his strike count.

He carved the merrow across the back before cutting it through on the backswing. The merrow’s head and shoulders slough off it's body, plopping into the water as the rest of it collapses with a splash.

“You fucking arsehole,” Molly sighs, shaking his head.

“Sorry, I was gettin’ what for, man,” Fjord responds, turning to where the group is still fighting the remaining merrow. “Shit,” Fjord cursed, feeling the pull from the Ethereal plane. He gives Molly a quick peace sign with his free hand, barely managing a “Peace out,” before he disappears once more.

Fjord begins to move towards the rest of the group and watches as Yasha slices through a merrow’s throat and, sticking her free hand into the wound, pulls out the merrow’s tongue through the gaping hole.

And so Yasha finally shows them what a Xhorhasian necktie is.

The creature gurgles, staggering towards Yasha, before it crumbles into the water.

“That did not sound good,” Caleb observes from where he’s still on land.

Beau weakly pulls herself up from where she’s been knocked down. “That was awesome,” she groans out, giving Yasha a beat up smile.

The respite and relief that they now only had one more merrow to deal with didn’t last long as two other merrow appear - one right by the group and the other close to Molly and Fjord.

Seeing his comrades appear, the merrow priest makes a gesture with it's hand, screeching with the motion. Thunder booms and lightning strikes, tearing a roar from Yasha as it hits her. The merrow doesn’t stay long to find out how much damage his new storm did as it quickly hides underwater.

Yasha growls, moving towards where the merrow priest had just disappeared before the merrow that appeared near Fjord and Molly rushes forward, spearing her with it's harpoon and yanking her back deeper into the water. It closes the distance between the two and bites down on Yasha’s arm, hard.

Fjord starts moving towards Yasha but he feels his heart stutter in his chest as he watches the other newly arrived merrow charge at Caleb, stabbing it's harpoon at Caleb’s chest.

(And of course it goes for Caleb, the softest and squishiest of the group, the only one who  _ never _ wore armor.)

But Caleb lifts his hand quickly, almost smacking the harpoon away. An arcane flash trails his hands, and Fjord realizes that Caleb quickly conjured a  _ shield _ , causing the blade to skitter off the spell.

He takes a step back as the merrow moves down to bite him, and there’s a split second where Fjord can see Caleb get bit on the shoulder, just the briefest moment where he can see the dark stain blossom on his shirt and he can hear Caleb shout in pain - but then he blinks and the merrow is still moving to bite Caleb who dodges out of the way, an odd look crossing his face amidst the fear.

His eyes are still on Caleb as he’s running and he can hear Beau call out in a daze, “I’m good, I’m still alive. Who’s - who’s next?” and in a flash she’s at Caleb’s side, cracking the merrow over the head with her staff while shouting “I hate fish!”

Jester joins in, calling over her spiritual weapon and hitting the merrow in the face, grinning, “Tastes good, doesn’t it?”

One of Caleb’s  _ Fire Bolt _ ’s lights up the ceiling of the cavern, missing it's target as Caleb dives into the water to try and hide.

“Shite,” Molly gets out from somewhere behind Fjord, and he can hear hissing from the merrow that had attacked Yasha and blades on flesh - Molly hitting his mark.

Fjord has his eyes on Caleb, hoping to apparate near him, maybe even try for some levity to help assuage some of the fear that he could see Caleb was feeling.

(And to help assuage his own worries because fuck.)

He focused,  _ Blink _ ing in with a small, “Boo!”, but instead of being anywhere near Caleb he feels like he’s back where he started, barely having moved at all. “Ah shit, fuck,” he curses, and, while he wants to focus on attacking the merrow near Caleb, Jester and Beau are there to help him. Fjord begrudgingly turns to the merrow that Yasha and Molly are fighting, his hands beginning to glow as he grumbles, “Fuck, the first time I do it, son of a bitch.”

There’s balls of pure energy in his hands as he lobs them with all his strength at the merrow, one  _ Eldritch Blast _ hitting it in the arm and blowing it right off while the other hit it right where it's chest meets it's neck.

It releases a wheezing gasp as it falls into the water, with Yasha giving it one last blow with her greatsword just to make sure it stays down.

Molly turns to Fjord and rolls his eyes, and Fjord, just to mess with Molly more than anything, makes finger guns at him, blowing on them and pretending to put them away. The playful moment doesn’t last long as he can begin to feel himself fading again, and he quickly shouts out, “It’s important to remember that you don’t -”

“-leave Caleb unguarded,” he finishes, everything turned to shades of grey around him again. He curses under his breath.

“So irritating,” Molly quips as Yasha pulls herself out of the water and both of them begin to run towards the other side of the cavern.

Fjord is right there with them, even as they veer off towards the merrow priest that’s beginning to rise out of the water once more. Fjord’s running towards Caleb and his friends, and he sees the merrow stab at Caleb again, and for a second he thinks Caleb’s going to conjure another shield as he lifts his hands up in front of him.

But then the merrow’s trident stabs him in the chest, clamoring over him as it sinks its teeth into his neck.

Jester’s shouting “I’m easy meat!” and he can hear Molly retching nearby, but he can’t tear his eyes away from the murky water as it suddenly clouds darker around Caleb.

Yasha’s shouting off to the side and everything feels more turbulent, the cavern simultaneously too big yet too small for everything that’s happening.

Beau pole vaults into the air with her staff, hitting the merrow twice from above in quick succession as she grounds out, “Hey Caleb, we should talk later!” before finishing her flurry of blows with a roundhouse kick, snapping the thing’s neck and sending it careening into the water.

It's only a second later that Jester pulls Caleb out of the water in a tight hug, a soft glow around him as she says, “You’re okay, my friend,” and the wound in his neck that had been bleeding freely slows as the bite knits closed, the splashing of the water washing away the blood that had covered the soft skin there.

(Fjord feels himself breathe a little easier.)

He looks up at her and gives her a grateful nod as he pulls himself up, crossing over the water quickly to get near Beau, his hand in his component pouch.

There’s splashing from the first pool, then, and Fjord glances over to catch Nott as she jumps out of the water, her crossbow out and loaded as she screams, “Where are they? Let me at them! I’ll save you all!” There’s a half second as she surveys the room and, seeing nothing, whines, “Get this water off of me, ah, ah!”

It’s faster this time, as Fjord concentrates and reappears, and he’s closer now, close enough to see the red tinted water where Caleb had been bleeding out. Seeing that in full color only makes him want to end this fight more, and he starts to hold the glowing energy at his hands for when the merrow priest reappears, grinning with the knowledge that they outnumber him, when his concentration slips and he’s suddenly back in the Ethereal plane.

“Guys!” he calls into the void, knowing none of them can hear him, but he catches sight of Molly wiping the bile from his mouth and shaking his head as he looks at the spot where Fjord disappeared from. “Fuck you, Molly!” he shouts, because he can and Molly can’t hear him.

Still seething with frustration, Fjord watches as the merrow priest emerges from the water, right in the middle of everyone. It starts to lift its hands to cast a spell, but not before Caleb unleashes one first and from the water a giant cat’s paw erupts and holds the merrow priest down.

“Hell, yeah!” Fjord cheers, watching Caleb focus on the spell from where he’s peeking out from behind a stalactite.

The merrow priest screeches angrily, and magic erupts right in front of it, a  _ Thunderwave _ going right for Caleb and Beau.

Beau gets knocked back a dozen feet, groaning and cursing where she lands on the stone, but Caleb gets sent flying straight into the wall right behind him and crumples to the ground.

(No.)

But his worst suspicions are confirmed when the merrow priest shakes off the cat’s paw, the clay now falling into limp chunks into the water, Caleb’s spell broken. It grins, the storm above it swirling ominously as lightning jumps from cloud to cloud faster and faster. A threat and a promise and a vengeance all at once.

(There’s nothing but red in his world of grey.)

“No!” Fjord screams, rough and raw and completely unheard, the grey of his landscape giving way to the shade of red of Caleb’s hair, to the red that stains his shirt in so many places, that covers the spot above his unmoving chest. “No!”

(Please, not like this.)

And he’s still in the Ethereal plane, useless and helpless and desperate, looking back and forth from Caleb to all of his friends.

Beau’s staggering to her feet, shaking off the blow. “I’m a little out of -” she gasps, “- it knocked the wind out of me.” Then she charges the merrow priest.

_ Turn that man into fist sticks _ , Fjord thinks, and watches as she hits it once, twice, then barely misses the third hit with her staff.

She takes a half step back, a hand to her ribs as she pants out, “I’m, ah, losing steam.”

Molly’s in the corner of Fjord’s eye as he runs forward as Nott lets out a blood curdling scream of rage and shoots one of her burning bolts straight at the merrow.

It hisses as it connects with a burst of fire, and then the storm is gone, disappearing completely as it's concentration breaks on the spell.

Fjord’s eyes are on Caleb, bloodied and broken and terrifyingly unmoving, when he realizes that the color has come rushing back and he’s on the material plane. He’s shaking with nerves and anger and fear, but he still throws the  _ Eldritch Blast _ s he’d been saving for the priest.

They both go wide, missing the merrow in his anxiety before he’s gone again, just as quickly as he’d appeared, back in the Ethereal plane.

Yasha rushes forward, striking twice with her greatsword as the merrow priest staggers back, the vibrating energy causing his hands to blur as he prepares another  _ Thunderwave _ , eyes on Yasha and Beau.

(And Caleb is behind them, right in the line of fire.)

(Caleb, who can’t take another hit.)

Fjord lunges forward, slashing with the falchion. “NO!” he shouts fruitlessly, meaning to tear through the Ethereal plane if he has to, when the merrow priest darts right, quickly trying to get to another place where he can hit more people with his spell.

Jester and Yasha are much quicker though, as Jester strikes him in the chest while Yasha lands a blow to his stomach, and they tear him in half.

Everything comes back into color as Fjord staggers forward, shouting “STOP!” The magic fizzles out, no threat to draw him back into the Ethereal plane.

He steadies himself in the water, blinking and seeing that Jester is already beside Caleb, nudging him with her foot. There’s a soft glow that seeps into Caleb’s skin, bringing color to it, breathing steadiness into his chest.

“Oouuch,” he groans out.

Fjord breathes a sigh of relief.

(The fear in his chest unravels, and there are tears pricking his eyes.)

Dismissing his falchion, Fjord quickly makes his way over to Caleb.

Caleb’s slowly sitting up, gingerly rubbing at his chest, his fingers slipping between the tears in his shirt from where the trident had tore through the fabric.

“You okay?” Fjord asks, coming to take a knee beside Caleb. 

“I-I think so,” Caleb answers, looking up at Fjord. “I’m just a little,” he tries to get up, grimacing in pain. Fjord’s hand is immediately at his back, helping him sit back down. “Sore,” he finishes.

Fjord nods, his hand lingering on Caleb’s back for a second longer than absolutely necessary, before he drops it. “Yeah, well, you took some pretty hard fuckin’ blows in this fight. I’m glad that you’re  _ just _ sore.” He looks around, just a quick survey of the room. “But don’t worry, I think we’re good now, so you can just take it easy for a bit.”

“Are you okay?” Caleb asks softly, his hand grazing Fjord’s arm.

(Almost making him jump in surprise when he feels his fingers slide against his skin.)

“Y-yeah,” Fjord stutters out, eyes snapping back to Caleb’s. “I - yeah, I’m good, Caleb.”

Caleb searches his face for a second before nodding, pulling his hand back. “I just lost sight of you during the fight.” He looks away, adding quietly, “I was worried.”

“About me?” Fjord asks incredulously.

Still looking away, Caleb nods. There’s a slight flush to his skin, and Fjord isn’t sure if it's from the fight or from embarrassment at his admission.

(It's even more noticeable now, without his beard. The dusting of pink, so much better on his skin than the bright scarlet from earlier.)

Fjord catches Caleb’s hand where it sits on his lap. “It was actually a spell,” Fjord tells him with a smile when Caleb looks up at him. “The reason why you couldn’t really see me.”

The smile that came across Caleb’s face was like sunshine, warm and welcoming.

(And something Fjord was so, so thankful to see.)

“A spell?” he asks, gripping Fjord’s hand.

“Mmmhm,” Fjord hums, giving Caleb’s hand a small squeeze. “Just something new I was trying out.”

Caleb turns his head, cocking it to the side, his smile now tinged with awe. “Do you think that’s something I could -”

He was cut off by a high pitched shriek, the loud “ _ Ca _ leb” the only warning they got before Nott threw herself into Caleb’s arms, almost knocking him over. “I was just so worried about you! You went flying and then you weren’t moving and I was just  _ so scared _ !” she rambles, hugging Caleb tightly.

Despite wincing as she knocked the air out of him as she crushed him to her, Caleb nonetheless hugs her back just as tightly. “I’m okay, Nott, I promise,” he assures her. He pulled back, looking at her with a proud smile. “And look at you - you came to help us.”

She nodded enthusiastically. “And I shot that merrow guy with my flame bolt! He got what he was coming to him.”

“That is true,” Caleb agrees, patting her on the back. He gestures to the crates that were on the elevated platform the merrow priest had been on. “Let’s go see what we find?”

“Oooh, yes, yes,” Nott answers quickly, jumping off of Caleb and helping him to his feet.

Fjord stood up too, reaching out to steady Caleb.

“Show me that spell later?” Caleb asks, holding onto Fjord’s arm.

“”Course,” Fjord says with a smile.

Caleb gives him a small smile in return, giving his arm a squeeze before he lets Nott tug him away.

(And Fjord watches him go, feeling light and excited to show Caleb the spell - ready to do anything to see that smile on Caleb’s face again.)

* * *

It had seemed easy, simple, at the time. Caleb was sitting there, focusing on one thing at a time as he  _ identif _ ied what they were, and when he was on the last one, on the small stone, curiosity - and a sudden uncontrollable urge - had won the better of Fjord.

He’d been sitting right beside Caleb, watching him ritually cast the spell again, and all he’d wanted to do was roll the stone a bit on the ground, just to feel it's texture.

Now, all he could feel was cold as he looked down at himself, at a body that isn’t his, but with the stone and his falchion in his now human hands, covered in blood.

_ Potential _ , the voice - the familiar voice - boomed.

There’s the uncontrollable urge to shove the stone into himself, and he does so. The stone passes harmlessly through his skin, disappearing beneath the flesh.

_ Consume _ , it growls.

A terrible exhaustion overtakes him, and he staggers forward, falling in front of an unfamiliar pond. He sees his reflection, and while it isn’t his, it's one he recognizes.

Vandran.

_ Reward _ , it breathes.

* * *

Caleb glanced away for only a split second, double checking a small part of the spell, but when he turns back Fjord has the stone in his hand, and he’s shoving it into his chest.

“Fjord -?” he gets out, watching as suddenly his hand goes past his armor. “Fjord!” Caleb shouts, lunging towards him, grabbing onto his arm and pulling it back with all his might.

His eyes are glazed over, unseeing, as he continues to bury his hand in his chest.

“No, Fjord, stop!” Caleb yells, trying to drag his arm back again.

Yasha looks over, along with Molly and Nott, and they quickly jump into the action, grabbing onto Fjord and trying to get his hands away from his chest.

Fjord shakes them off with uncharacteristic ease, pulling his arm out of Caleb’s grasp as he staggers to the pool where the stone was found. His palm flattens against his chest as he falls on his hands and knees before the pool, everyone right there behind him, immediately grabbing onto him again.

Caleb is holding onto his hand, looking at his face in worry as Fjord struggles, but then he freezes for a second as he blinks, looking into his reflection before turning to Caleb in confusion as they pull him away from the pond.

“What the fuck was that? What just happened?” Nott pants out from where she’s climbed onto Fjord’s back, holding tight onto his shoulder.

Jester quickly sweeps forward, right in front of Fjord, running her hands over the completely intact armor, pulling away some of the leather plates to reveal no wound, not even a scar.

Fjord sways where they’re holding him. “I feel - I feel funny. What happened?”

“Caleb, did you  _ identify _ it before it went into him?” Jester asks frantically, turning to him. “What was it?”

“Into me?” Fjord asks.

“You have the thing in you!” Jester shouts.

“It's now in your chest,” Yasha confirms with a frown.

“You grabbed the stone before I had the chance to finish what I was doing,” Caleb says, trying his hardest to keep his voice as steady as possible. “Why did you do that?”

He sounded clinical, cold.

( _ But if he didn’t keep himself like that, he was afraid he’d start crying from the overwhelming worry otherwise. _ )

“I, ah, felt like I’d seen it before,” Fjord breathed as he slowly sat down. “I just, uh,” he furrowed his brow. “I just wanted to touch it.”

It took Caleb a second to get his worry under control. “Why?” he finally ground out.

And so Fjord explained. Fjord explained the uncontrollable urge to touch the stone, how he saw things, saw a man -

_ “A man, he’s very dear to me.” _

But he didn’t just see the man, he  _ was _ the man, and he’d been holding the stone, and he’d shoved it into himself.

_ “A captain of mine. A man named Vandran.” _

_ “He may be dead.” _

_ “There was an incident.” _

_ “There was an explosion.” _

_ “I was knocked overboard.” _

_ “When I woke up, I was back on shore.” _

Fjord’s story winds to a close - at least what he’s willing to tell them.

“Are you skipping any details?” Caleb asks. Because Caleb knows it's not the time to be skipping them.

( _ He doesn’t want to risk it. _ )

“No, no details,” Fjord answers. “I-I knew this man very well. He was almost like a father to me, and I never saw him holding anything like this. Not that I remember.” He frowns, shaking his head. “It's unique, I’d remember.” He looks at Caleb. “I’m not leaving anything out.”

“But how did you survive that?” Yasha says quietly.

“I’m not entirely sure.” Fjord looks down at his hands, flexing the fingers. “I, um, I remember getting thrown overboard, the waves overtaking me. It was a hell of a fight, and I’m a real good swimmer, but you’d come up for air one second and your mouth would be full of salt water the next.” He glanced at the group, “I just remember losing track of which way was up.” Fjord drops his gaze again, a humorless smile on his face. “It’s funny, when you’re underwater and it's dark, the only way to tell which way is towards the surface is by blowing bubbles.”

Caleb feels his chest seize up.

“I did that as hard as I could with all the air that was in my lungs and those bubbles,” he shakes his head, “disappeared.” He swallows hard. “And I just remember it stinging, filling my chest.” He pauses, looking up at everyone again. “The next thing I knew, I was face down on the shore.”

“Sounds a lot like dying,” Beau grimly points out.

“Yeah,” Fjord agrees.

( _ The pain in his chest is sharp and acute, but there’s nothing he can do to change Fjord’s past - all he  _ can  _ do is be thankful that he’s still alive. _ )

The conversation peters out after that, with Jester and Nott lightening the mood by trying to convince Fjord that maybe he survived because he was part fish or mermaid.

It's unnerving when Molly realizes that the pool where the stone was found was the only body of salt water in the cavern, but they don’t figure out anything else, aside that maybe the merrow had wanted the stone. And with that ominous possibility, they all decided it best to leave the cavern, heading back up to the safe house to lessen the risk of more merrow appearing to attack them.

As they leave, they light up some dynamite, sending it down the hole that led down to the pool that would take them back to the cavern. The muffled explosion and the foot drop in the swamp’s water level was enough to let them know that that cave had definitely been filled in.

They’re taking down the bodies from the trees, moving to bury them when Beau approaches Caleb.

“Hey, uh, can I - can I talk to you for like, uh, like-like five seconds?” she asks. “Ten, maybe, tops.”

Caleb watches her quietly, unsure what this conversation might lead to.

“Fifteen, okay, it might be more like, like twenty - like twenty seconds - just, will you give me like twenty seconds?” she get out. “Over here,” she gestures towards a place a little ways from the group.

Feeling nervous, Caleb glances at the group, catching Fjord watching him. Fjord gives him an encouraging smile, nodding towards Beau.

_ (And he may be worried and stressed and scared about what Fjord has inside of him, but that smile is still Fjord’s smile, those warm yellow eyes still filled with kindness.) _

Before Caleb can even move to where Beau had gestured, Beau rushes out, “No, you know what, it's fine. I can, uh, I can say it in front of everybody. I, uh, I-I’m sorry.” She looks down. “I-I wanted to apologize for, for last night. I got a little aggressive, a little handsy.” She meets his eyes. “I shouldn’t have done that, was out of line, and I shouldn’t have brought up your past shit. Sorry.” She throws her hands up, “See, twenty seconds, twenty seconds - that’s right, that was about right? That was good?”

Caleb can hear Fjord whisper, “Genuine,” at Beau, and that, coupled with the look that Fjord had given him when Beau approached him, made the sincerity of the apology make sense.

“I’m - uh, he’s just staring at me,” Beau fidgets, looking back at Fjord, reaffirming Caleb’s suspicions.

“Caleb!” Jester whispers at him now, “Here’s where you respond to her.”

“I - you saw the worst side of me,” Beau continues, but Caleb doesn’t let her get more out.

He pulls her into a hug, overwhelmed and heartened that Beau had gone to Fjord to figure out how to apologize, that she had decided to even apologize. He swallows past the lump in his throat and says, “I don’t know what I’m doing. Just go with it.”

* * *

Beau looks at him over her shoulder as Caleb has his arms around her. He gives her OK hand gesture with a nod, letting her know that this was definitely turning out good.

“Not too tight,” he mouths at her as she hugs him back, and Fjord can see Yasha giving Caleb a thumbs up, and making a pat-pat motion.

Fjord signals for Beau to let go when the hug starts to get a little awkward as Caleb begins patting her head, but as they pull away everyone applauds them.

Caleb ducks his head, sneaking Yasha two thumbs up as Nott says, “That was really good, guys.”

“ _ Welcome to the Mighty Nein _ ,” Kiri exclaims as she claps, sounding exactly like Nott.

“That’s not necessary,” Caleb gets out, with a nervous laugh as he glances at Beau.

“Yes it is, she was really rude to you and -” Nott cuts in.

“Not,” Caleb repeats, “necessary. We’re working on it.”

“Nice job,” Fjord commends Beau, but his eyes are on Caleb.

(On the cute blush that dusts his features, on the tiny smile that tugs on his lips.)

“Was it? I don’t know how I feel about that,” Beau whispers back, then, to Caleb she says, “Uh, good talk, friend.” She claps him on the shoulder. “Seriously though, like, friend?”

“ _ Ja _ , okay,” Caleb nods.

“_Ya -_ _yah - ja -_ how do you say it?” Beau asks, trying to respond in Caleb’s Zemnian.

“Quit while you’re ahead,” Fjord coughs out.

Beau nods curtly at Caleb, “Alright.” And she walks away, not far, but enough to end the conversation.

“It was good,” Yasha tells Caleb, coming to stand closer to him.

“Hey, Caleb,” Jester calls out, looking around at the trees and murky water, “do you know how to find out way out of this swamp?”

“Find our way out?” Nott asks.

“Of course I do,” Caleb answers, starting to look around as well.

“Yeah, aren’t we done here,” Jester says, turning to Nott.

“We’re done, we’re heading out,” Molly agrees.

“I think we have,” Nott begins, loading her crossbow. “A troll to find.”

Yasha and Molly laugh as Caleb smiles with a shake of his head.

Nott turns to the rest of the group, lowering her crossbow with a shrug, “Or we could just leave.”

“I mean, that is one hundred gold,” Yasha reminded them.

Jester grimaces. “Yeah, but he almost killed us like super easy.”

“That was - that was a lot of troll,” Molly says, wrinkling his nose.

“He kinda bleeds death and stuff,” Fjord adds, going to stand beside Caleb. “We’d have to hit him from afar. It might not be worth it.”

“Well, my friends,” Caleb begins, his fingers brushing against Fjord’s for a second, his eyes glancing to Fjord before turning to everyone else, “whatever we do, we are really fucked up. At least Beauregard and I are really fucked up.”

With a cocky grin, Jester lifts her hands, touching both Caleb and Beau, who had come closer to hear the conversation. “Blam-blam!”

There’s the soft glow again, seeping into both Beau and Caleb, and some of the bruises on Beau’s arms disappear and the lingering cuts on Caleb knit together completely.

“That definitely works,” Beau nods, flexing her muscles.

Fjord reaches for Caleb’s hand, giving it a small squeeze. “Let’s get going?”

“ _ Ja _ ,” Caleb hums, looking up at Fjord, the smile never leaving his face as he begins to guide them through the swamp, Frumpkin just a few paces ahead.

Molly catches sight of their hands, giving Fjord a teasing smirk. Fjord only rolls his eyes, looking away as he summons his falchion so that he’s ready for anything that might jump out at them.

His eyes catch on the hilt of his sword, where the blade meets the pommel, on the single eye that sits there, what had never been there before - the stone.

Fjord turns to Caleb, the words on his lips, but they die there when he sees the soft smile on Caleb’s face as he’s walking beside him, still hand in hand.

He turns the hilt down, where the eye is no longer visible.

No need to ruin the mood with something to worry about - no need to remind them about this right now. He would tell them later.

(Caleb doesn’t need any more weight on his shoulders right now, he doesn’t need more worries to drag him down when he’s in a good mood.)

(Besides, he could always just show Caleb later when he showed him that spell that Caleb got so excited about, maybe that could help lessen the news.)

(And, despite how worried he was about this latest development with the stone, he couldn’t find himself to dwell on it, not when he was holding Caleb’s hand.)

**Author's Note:**

> yeah so like, i'm going to always mark this series as complete, but i might add whenever i feel like writing more and like it fits into this verse. So who knows what more little tidbits I could love as I watch the 2nd campaign! but so far I have like maybe two more planned? but no promises loves
> 
> I really hope you all liked it! This is definitely longer than anything I've written in a while, but it was super fun to write!
> 
> The scenes that inspired this were:  
Stalker in the Swamp | Critical Role | Campaign 2, Episode 21 - 4:23:50  
Lost Treasures | Critical Role | Campaign 2, Episode 22 - 18:33, 36:34, and 3:32:30 (but basically the whole episode since the whoooole fight is here)


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